READ: HEBREWS 12:1-13

Ask any athlete at any level, and he or she can discuss the value of home field advantage. Cheering, screaming, clapping, frenzied fans make a difference to athletes. Kansas City’s Arrowhead Stadium, Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field, or Buffalo’s Highmark Stadium—these are tough places for visiting teams to play. But they’re amazing venues for the home team, elevating teams to victory on the voices of their fans.

What does this have to do with our faith? Home field advantage can remind us of a powerful truth we find in the Bible. Several passages metaphorically describe the Christian faith as running a race. Hebrews 12:1 even offers the image of a packed stadium, describing it as “a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us.” While there will be fatigue, pain, setbacks, and losses, we can be encouraged by that great cloud of witnesses, which includes the people mentioned in Hebrews 11. They are cheering us on, exhorting us to keep our eyes on Jesus to win the race, just as they ran and finished it before us (Hebrews 12:2).

Here’s the great irony in the cloud of witnesses cheering us to victory. We’re running in a packed stadium today because Christ paid the price on a lonely hill called Calvary. He had no home field advantage. He was crucified alongside two criminals. There were a few hardened Roman guards and a few supporters, including His mother. All the fans Jesus seemed to have during His ministry had deserted Him.

But a few days later, alone in a tomb, Jesus overcame death and threw off the burial clothes. What He accomplished on a hostile hilltop—and then alone in the dark of a tomb—has enabled us to run the race before us. Not only that, but we have a stadium full of cheering fans. • Mike Hurley

• Look at the list of some of the witnesses in Hebrews 11. Who are some of the people cheering for you?

• What can Hebrews 11:1–12:13 tell us about running the race of the Christian life?

Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every hindrance and the sin that so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, keeping our eyes on Jesus. Hebrews 12:1-2 (CSB)